Staff/Trustees - Newfound Lake Region Association

Heidi Jeffrey

Heidi Jeffrey first came to know and appreciate the Newfound Watershed more than 25 years ago through summer visits with her extended family. After 17 years with Fidelity Investments, Heidi brings her professional experience and enthusiasm working with people to a new position that will get her outside and connecting with the Newfound community. She enjoys time on the lake (of course!) with her husband Gregg, spending time with her adult children Brendon and Mason, and taking walks with their yellow lab Gunner.

Mirka Zapletal

Mirka is a native of New Hampshire and began her career as a high school social studies teacher in New Hampshire and Vermont with a Master of Education from Harvard. She returned to school to focus on conservation and ecology, earning a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England and a PhD in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She returned home after five years in Louisiana, where she missed the weather and mountains of New Hampshire every day. She believes that personal experience with science and research is crucial for both helping people access science and supporting conservation. Depending on the season, Mirka is following animal tracks, adding to her bird list, and visiting agricultural fairs, usually with her husband and two children in tow.

Audrey West

Audrey grew up in Alaska, a beginning that fostered a great appreciation for wild places. She moved to the East Coast and attended New England College, receiving a BA in Business Administration, and has lived in Alexandria since 2015. Audrey is dedicated to the well-being of the Newfound community and the protection of it’s unique resources. Along with her husband David and their son Sterling, Audrey enjoys kayaking, biking, skiing, and attending the many vibrant local events.

Paul Pellissier

Paul originally hails from Pennsylvania but knew he would call New Hampshire home after attending the University of New Hampshire and earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Environmental Science and Natural Resources. Paul and his wife spent five years in Wyoming, where he taught courses in environmental problem solving and collaborative decision-making at the University of Wyoming, before moving to Bridgewater in 2018. Paul is happiest in the outdoors and is committed to protecting the environment through inclusive processes and education. You can find him in the mountains climbing and backpacking, cycling the area’s byways, or out on the water sailing and kayaking.

Parker Griffin

Parker is a former chair of the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership, retired from a career in risk management, is a Camp Pasquaney alumni, board member of the Newfound Lake Region Association, and a landscape photographer with a specific interest in furthering land conservancy in the Newfound watershed.

Rob Moore

Rob grew up in New Hampton, Bristol, and Bridgewater, and has always loved Newfound Lake and its surroundings. He has spent his life working to protect the region and preserve its natural beauty and resources. As President of the Newfound Lake Region Association for over 12 years, he has helped to ramp up programs and partnerships to serve the organization’s guardianship mission. Watershed stewardship has become a cornerstone initiatives of that mission, and as a result, thousands of acres of land have gone into conservation to protect Newfound and its waterways. Rob is also on the board of the Mayhew Program, the New Hampton School and the Groton Community School.

Martha Twombly

Martha has been coming to Newfound to her grandfather’s log cabin all her life, and moved here in 2006. She is a founding member and coordinator of the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership, retired from the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, serves on the Hebron Conservation Commission and as a board member for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust and the Newfound Lake Region Association. She established the Forever Newfound Endowment Fund in 2021 and loves being outdoors.

Brian Hotz

Brian is the Vice President for Land Conservation for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. His primary responsibilities for the Forest Society are to oversee the Society’s Land Protection and Stewardship departments. Additionally, he is responsible for organizing and implementing the Forest Society’s strategic land protection initiatives including the Quabbin-Cardigan Conservation Partnership and Merrimack River Watershed partnership.

Rosemary D'Arcy

Rosemary is a former trustee and president of the Newfound Lake Region Association and current Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Minot-Sleeper Library in Bristol. Rosemary and her husband Herb D’Arcy have been active members of the Newfound Lake Region Association since its inception and Rosemary has served on the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership since 2012.

Dawn Ashley Lemieux

Dawn retired from a career in marketing and printing. She has served on the boards of New Hampshire Audubon, Friends of the Arts and D Acres Environmental Homestead. She is a current member of the Newfound Audubon Advisory Committee and is a resident in Groton, NH.

Roger Larochelle

Roger serves as Executive Director of the Squam Lakes Conservation Society, is a Hebron town moderator, a member of the Hebron Planning Board, a trustee of the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, a former board member of the Newfound Lake Region Association, and former Executive Director of the Mayhew Program.

Vincent Broderick

Vin was the director of Camp Pasquaney from 1997-2020, former president of the NH Camp Directors Association, former chair of the Circle Program Board of Directors, and was a high school educator from 1976-1997. He is an avid rower, canoeist, and hiker.

Dick Beyer

Dick is the retired treasurer of Camp Pasquaney and has been active in New Hampshire conservation organizations for over 40 years, including NH Audubon, Newfound Lake Region Association, Lakes Region Conservation Trust, NH Lakes, and the Lakes Region Advisory Board of the NH Charitable Foundation.

Rob Moore

Rob Moore was raised on the campus of the New Hampton School, in New Hampton, NH, and spent many summer days on Newfound Lake where his parents have a place on Pasquaney Bay. Rob’s New Hampshire roots instilled in him a love of the Lakes Region and left him with a devotion to the area and a desire to give back to the people and places of New Hampshire and to protect the state’s natural resources. Rob has spent his career in education and been at Lawrence Academy in Groton, MA, since 1983. He currently serves as the school’s Associate Head of School. In addition to his service to the Newfound Lake Region Association, Rob is on the Board of Trustees of The Mayhew Program and the New Hampton School. Rob and his wife Laura have a home on the west shore of Newfound Lake, and, as they and their three daughters say, “There’s no place like Newfound Lake!”

Ken Weidman

Ken grew up in Massachusetts, and summered with his family on a small island off mid-coast Maine. In 1961 he met his late wife Susan and was introduced to “the lake” and her family’s cottage on Whittemore Point. Ken, who retired in 2004 after 40 years in the banking business, was involved in community activities in Massachusetts, including the Presidencies of the Andover Little League and the Lawrence based Merrimack Valley YMCA. Ken currently serves as a permanent member of the Bridgewater Planning Board. Ken and Susan moved from their family home in Andover, MA to Bridgewater in 2004. Ken enjoys cross country “skate skiing” in the winter months, and in the warmer months, road biking, boating, and kayaking.

Karen Boyd

Karen was born in NH but grew up in Melrose, MA. She spent summers at Newfound Lake from early childhood through working as a young adult at The Hillside Inn. In 1987 her family purchased a vacation home in Camelot Acres in Bristol, and she now resides here full time. Karen graduated from Melrose High School, received an undergraduate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Masters degree from Plymouth State. In 2011 she retired after a long career as a New Hampshire educator, serving as a classroom teacher in Hooksett and a Literary Specialist in Bow and the Newfound Area School District. Karen has been a volunteer with NLRA for 8 years, primarily as our Membership Coordinator, and a trustee since 2013. She is a director of Voices Against Violence, a non profit agency that works to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and in 2013 was elected president of Voices. Karen also volunteers with the Friends of the Minot Sleeper Library and enjoys travel, gardening and spending time on and around the lake in any season.

Parker Griffin

Parker grew up on Long Island in New York and first came to Newfound Lake when he was 12 years old to go to Camp Pasquaney. He subsequently spent four more summers there as a camper and 3 later on after college as a counselor. Parker attended Vassar College where he got a BA in Russian and Indiana University where he earned an MA in Slavic Languages and Literature. Many years later, in 2004, after a long banking career overseas and wanting to establish a US base, Parker and his wife Camille bought the Novack property at 158 George Road, Hebron to which they retired to live full time in April, 2012. Parker currently chairs the NLRA’s Land and Watershed Committee.

Ed McNierney

Ed is an active conservationist from Groton, Massachusetts with strong connections to the Newfound Lake area. He serves or has served on the Groton Conservation Trust, the Nashua River Watershed Association, the Massachusetts Audubon Society Council, and The Trustees of Reservations. He is active in municipal affairs (Groton Finance Committee Chair, expansion of historic Groton Public Library). His children attend or have attended Camps Onaway and Pasquaney, and his wife Kate is an Onaway alum and former Trustee. Ed and Kate spend their time in Hebron in their low-impact summer getaway on Pike Hill Road, in the town’s first yurt.

Greg Wagner

Greg owns West Shore Marine and is a native of Bristol. He is instrumental in keeping our pontoon boat in top shape, and was a major contributor to the purchase of the “Madelaine” in 2011. On his occasional days off he tends to his family, runs mountains to stay fit, and mixes dirt biking and snowmobiling in season.

Kathy Bird

Kathy grew up and spent most of her adult life in Belmont, Massachusetts. Her family has owned a house on Whittemore Point since the 1950’s. She attended Saint Michael’s College, received her degree in Business Administration, and spent her career in sales. She is currently a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and Saint Michael’s College Athletic Hall of Fame. When their children were young, Kathy and her husband decided to move closer to the lake to enjoy it year-round. Currently a stay-at-home mom, she feels fortunate that her children are third generation lovers of Newfound Lake.

Bob Martens

Bob was raised in Manchester, Connecticut. After graduating from Catholic University in Washington DC, he began a thirty-year career in the Air Force/Air Force Reserve as a pilot, a job that took him all over the world. After stepping down from active duty in 1977, he and his wife Susan settled in Western Massachusetts, where they raised their two sons and Bob spent a twenty-year career as a safety program manager with the Federal Aviation Administration. In 1999, Bob and Sue discovered Newfound Lake and immediately made it their weekend getaway spot until retirement in 2006 when it became their permanent home. In all their expansive travels, Bob and Sue have found there is just no place like Newfound! Their kids and grandkids feel the same way. Bob also serves as a member of the Newfound Audubon Committee.

Steve McMahon

The NLRA is pleased and excited to welcome long-time member Steve McMahon to our Board of Trustees! Steve has deep roots in New Hampshire and a powerful affinity for Newfound Lake. With his long leadership experience as a professional financial advisor, coach, and Trustee of the Manchester Boys and Girls Club, he brings a keen intellect and impeccable qualifications to his new role. Steve was introduced to Newfound in 1998 when his sister-in-law purchased a cottage. In 2001, after many visits and a growing appreciation for the lake, he and his wife purchased a cottage on Pasquaney Bay. Steve has two daughters and four grandchildren. He is married to Dr. Grace Freije who has been an art educator for over thirty years in New Hampshire. He enjoys many outdoor activities, especially if they include being at his beloved Newfound Lake.

Valerie Scarborough

Val’s family started spending vacations on Newfound Lake before she was born, and in 1958, her parents purchased the property in Hebron that she still owns with her two brothers. Growing up in Framingham, Massachusetts, the Lake and mountains were always home to Val’s heart.
After attending the University of New Hampshire and graduating from Wellesley College in 1975, Val worked as a trust and estate administrator for several years before deciding to enter the U.S. Navy and completing the Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. Her first duty station was in San Diego, California, where she was convinced that the U.S. Marine Corps would be a better fit for her. Accepted for transfer in 1982, she graduated from the Marine Officer Basic School and went on to serve at commands in Twentynine Palms, California; Okinawa, Japan; Pohang, Korea; and Washington, DC, with a primary specialty in manpower policy and management. Val met her husband, Jack, in the Marine Corps, and they married in 1989.
Following Val’s final tour, in which she was responsible for Marine Corps Reserve recruiting throughout the Northeastern United States, she retired as a lieutenant colonel. She and Jack decided to make their retirement home close to the Lake, and they moved to Plymouth in 2003.
Val was elected to the Plymouth Select Board in 2009, and served as its Chair from 2010 to 2015. She is active in the Plymouth Area Democrats, serving on their board of directors from 2011 to 2017. She has also volunteered as a stream water monitor with the NLRA, as a ski patroller at Tenney Mountain, and as a member of the committee for the annual Keep the Heat On fuel assistance fundraiser.

Joseph Boyer

Joe has experience in microbial ecology and biogeochemistry of coastal oceans, estuaries, lakes, rivers, and groundwater ecosystems. His interests are in both natural and human‐induced physical/chemical effects water quality with specific expertise in bacterial and phytoplankton nutrient cycling processes, ecosystem biogeochemistry, and long‐term ecological time series. His research also involves developing system‐wide indicators of ecosystem restoration and incorporating the valuation of ecosystem services into science, management, and policy thinking. He is a founding Principal Investigator of the NSF‐funded Florida Coastal Everglades LTER, and the Water Quality Monitoring Network for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. He has served on numerous national and regional scientific advisory boards, including five national program reviews and multiple assessments of federal science programs.

Andrea LaMoreaux

Andrea brings a comprehensive understanding of how to effectively work with volunteers, the ecology and health of the state’s lakes, and what can be to be done to
protect and improve lake quality in the state, having coordinated the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) Volunteer Lake Assessment Program for
six years before joining NH LAKES in February of 2007. Prior to working at DES, she worked with the BSC Group, Inc., an environmental education and engineering consulting firm headquartered in Massachusetts. Andrea holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Environmental Management degree in Water Resources from Duke University. Andrea is a 2016 graduate of the Leadership New Hampshire Program. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors with her husband (who comes from the Finger Lakes Region of New York) and their daughter, and they live in Plymouth, not far from her parents who have a home on Lake Sunapee.

Jim Fitts

Jim Fitts was born on Newfound Lake and spent the next 50 years summering at his parents’ 1940s-era camp. In 2000 he modernized the camp and made it his year-round home. Jim remembers Newfound so clear the bottom was visible in more than 30 feet of water, and has watched the slow (and recently more rapid) transformation of the water, shoreline, hill sides, and boat traffic with growing concern.

A conservationist at heart, Jim’s energies have been expended mostly in Kenya over the last decade, but as a lifelong resident of the area, and Trustee of Mayhew and the NLRA, stewarding the Newfound watershed is now a priority. His son and grandchildren still think of Newfound Lake as home, and there can be no greater legacy than passing on what one fondly remembers to the next generations.

Jim has a forty-plus-year career in financial services, spanning commercial lending and credit, administration, private banking, investments, and family office management. A 14-year veteran of the US Coast Guard, Jim served as an executive officer at various posts. Jim lives in Bridgewater with his Labrador Jack and Morgan horse Zeus.

Rob Pinsonneault

Newfound Lake has been a central part of Dr. Robert L. Pinsonneault’s family for four generations and counting. Since the early 1960s, his family has come to this lake to recreate on, around, and in the lake’s clear waters. Rob’s emotional attachment to Newfound has always fueled a desire to explore and protect this place, but it was not until a fortuitous collaboration with Plymouth State University did his scientific interest in these waters gain purpose and momentum. Rob now leverages his expertise in molecular ecology to explore the natural history of the lake, and to develop new ways of understand Newfound that will have broad applications, particularly with respect to how New England is responding to changes in our climate.

Rebecca Hanson

Rebecca Hanson has spent a lifetime in and around lakes. After nearly a decade in Wyoming, she returned home to New Hampshire and spent eight years working for the Squam Lakes Association, where she directed all conservation activities for the organization, including the Squam Watershed Plan update, invasive plant management and water quality monitoring programs. Rebecca holds a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Plymouth State University and serves as chair of the Plymouth Planning Board. Rebecca enjoys exploring the world by foot, bicycle, skis, and canoe. She joined the NLRA as Executive Director in 2019.

Martha Twombly

Martha Twombly has been coming to Newfound Lake with her family since she was born, to her grandfather’s log cabin built in 1927 on the Lake, named “Owls Head.” She spent every summer at the lake and in the White Mountains, and winters skiing at Tenney Mountain. She began her career in archaeology (BA Anthropology Univ. of Colorado/Johnson State College) working for the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Moving back to Vermont in 1972 she raised two daughters, both avid Newfound lovers and conservationists. The family lived in the same town as renowned wood-stove manufacturer, Vermont Castings, and Martha switched her focus to promoting sustainability and marketing hearth products, through technical writing, advertising and catalog publishing. While earning her MS in Environmental Communications and Science at Antioch Univ. NE, Martha began working with Chelsea Green Publishing, a back-to-the-land environmental and alternative energy advocacy publisher. Martha then worked as an environmental planner for the Cape Cod Commission on Cape Cod and finally returned to Hebron, NH with her husband in 2005. Martha is avid about the Newfound watershed and wildlife, and worked as Program Manager with the Newfound Lake Region Association from 2006 – 2009. She has been actively involved in land conservation initiatives, recently retiring from the Society for the Protection of NH Forests. Martha is a founding member of the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership, has served as Chair of the Hebron Conservation Commission since 2006, serves on the Newfound Audubon Committee, and serves on the board of the Lakes Region Conservation Trust. Martha is an avid gardener, kayaker, walker, bicyclist, wildlife tracker, and skier, and hates to be indoors when the sun is shining.

Bill Brady

Bill has been coming to Newfound Lake since 1996. He is passionate about climate change and conservation. He spends his days investing, managing, and growing renewable energy and climate technology companies. His current companies are focused on hydrogen energy and reducing the pollution of nitrogen fertilizer. Bill, his wife Nancy, their 4 children, one grandson, and golden retriever can be found on Newfound Lake in the summer and on Ragged Mountain in the winter.

Carole Tremonti

Carole Tremonti is a healthcare executive in the space of technology innovation. She is a nurse by training and has worked in academic medicine the majority of her career. She began her journey at the Mayo Clinic, conducted research at the National Institutes of Health, transitioned to running a research team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, then was drawn to focus her efforts in Oncology and spent the last 13 years at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she led product and business development, designing and building commercial software products that provide decision support to oncologists to determine the singular best cancer treatment for an individual patient. Recently, Carole left academic medicine to join the executive team of a healthcare startup focused solely on rendering actionable insights for cancer patients, and their clinical teams. After spending her academic tenure focusing on supporting the healthcare team, Carole’s passion and focus has narrowed to establish shared decision making and to connect the communication between clinicians and their patients.

Carole has been a lake girl her whole life. She spent every summer of her childhood running around barefoot with friends, swimming, sailing, and enjoying the peace and nature at her family lakehouse in upstate New York. In her adult life, Carole had always dreamed of having a place of her own. After being introduced to Newfound Lake by a close friend, Carole purchased her own property in 2014. She quickly fell in love with the beauty and pristine quality of the water, and was drawn to protect it. Carole has relished all of the wonderful activities the Lakes Region has to offer, and has named Newfound Lake her “happy place”.

Jennifer Berry

Jennifer Berry spent more than 30 years as an educator at New Hampton School, an independent boarding school located in central New Hampshire. Most recently, she served as the Director of College Counseling at Western Reserve Academy, located in Hudson, OH. Now, in her semi-retirement, Jennifer is the founder of J.S. Berry Consulting, where she helps shepherd private clients through the intricacies of the college process. She is a 1983 graduate of New Hampton School and completed her BA at Colby College in 1987.

Jen was raised in the Newfound area where she attended Newfound schools through eighth grade and was a camper for three summers at Camp Onaway in Hebron. She lives in New Hampton with her husband, Tom. Jen’s twin brother, Jeff, owns Shackett’s Store on the western shore of Newfound Lake. Her younger bother, Jon, is the founder and lead brewer at Shackett’s Brewing Company, located in Bristol Square. Jen loves the lake and wants to work to protect and preserve it.

Bequest Sample Language

“I bequeath to Newfound Lake Region Association, 10 N Main Street, Unit 1, Bristol, NH 03222 [the sum of __________ Dollars ($____)] or [ _______ % of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate], to be used for its general purposes.”

Legal name: Newfound Lake Region Association

Address: 10 N Main St Unit 1 Bristol, NH 03222

Federal tax ID#: 02-0398396

NRLA STAFF AND TRUSTEES

Staff

Trustees